#<- official ivesi content tag btw

[mourningmoth]

so since i cant make my own content quick enough for myself, im just gonna infodump about my nerevarine and vivec's relationship, which hopefully i can later convey better with actual art, but also it involves some context, lol

i am always thinking about their dynamic tho bc its rly fun to work with since their whole thing is so complicated

in ivesi's story specifically, ive decided on the canonical status of some details that are left to player interpretation, such as whether the player character actually is nerevar or not

so in this canon, ivesi is a reincarnation of nerevar (but only after mantling via prophesies, ie i like 2 think she specifically becomes nerevar through effort). as an outlander dunmer, she's also familiar with the tribunal gods, but never really got to have a connection to them culturally, so she has this sense of unfamiliarity with them up until she actually gets to morrowind

anyway! in my head, their friendship works out as kind of a slow burn, where ivesi doesnt fully trust vivec at first, but softens her opinion the more they talk, and the more questions ivesi asks

(strangely enough, vivec's crypticbullshit-speak doesnt seem to bother ivesi much, but theres... a point where she can get frustrated with non-straight forwardness lmao)

ivesi also tends to ask questions of vivec that are difficult or uncomfortable to answer, so from vivec's side of things, theyre not too psyched about ivesi at first either

from ivesi's pov also, its really weird because shes basically forced to cooperate with this person for obvious reasons, while also having that uncomfortable lingering air of "hey u knew me in my past life and u POSSIBLY killed me, maybe explain?"

i like 2 think ivesi presses about the "foul murder" a few times, and gets a different side-steppy response every time (which at first, vivec gives to gauge her reaction), but eventually they seem to break down eachothers walls enough to the point that vivec EVENTUALLY honestly answers that they did not kill nerevar, which (at that point) she actually believes

(and like. i kno the final mission against dagoth ur takes place right after meeting vivec but SHH in my dumb little world, the assault on red mountain actually took some time to prep because i need self-indulgent character relationship time)

whats also nice about their dynamic to me, is that they're basically the only two people even capable of being the others friend, since theyre really the only ones aside from the other tribunes who have a real understanding of the situation and ivesi's role in it (thats not true entirely tho bc POST main-quest, ivesi does learn how to actually maintain relationships and makes a few friends later on)

like, to ivesi, vivec is the only person she CAN talk to who understands who she is in a meaningful way. to vivec, ivesi is the only mortal person theyre willing to divulge certain information to, given their shared history and vivec's cutoff from both soth sil and almalexia

it's like theyre the only people the other has "left" of their personal relationships (this is also because ivesi is sort of standoffish and doesnt have a lot of other friendships prior to the vivec thing anyway. its trauma), further compounded by how dire the situation is right before voryn is defeated, so they really feel "lost" and alone with eachother for a good minute

altho from vivec's pov it's probably rly weird that u've simultaneously known this person for like, a couple months but ALSO hundreds of years. (it makes sense) so i also like to think because of this innate familiarity vivec has with ivesi by virtue of her being nerevar, that vivec has a hard time deciding how to regard her at first, and how candid/honest to be and when

i just think about their dumb complicated shit a lot